Port Blair (Andaman Islands): He is 15 years old, loves playing cricket and does all the other things that regular 15-year-olds do.

But Murali Radhakrishnan is unlike any other boy his age. His classmates in Port Blair are in awe of him and so is everyone who knows him. For Murali, with pure grit and determination, fought and survived nature's fury that laid his village waste last year.

On the morning of December 26, 2004, when the tsunami swept through Car Nicobar in Port Blair, Murali was playing cricket with his friends.

"When we saw the giant wave, we all started running towards a nearby jungle. The wave caught up with me and I was swept away by the sheer force of it. I was just lucky that there was a huge tree in my path and I managed to cling on to it," recalls Murali.

With raging sea all around and no way of escape from what seemed like sure death, Murali climbed higher on the tree. Hoping for help to arrive, Murali clung to the tree in fear and desperation, without food or water. He sat on the tree for 10 days, too scared to come down.

Weak from hunger and thirst, Murali's grip evntually slackened and he fell to the ground in a dead faint. A group of Nicobarese tribals saw the boy and rushed him to a nearby hospital.

On regaining consciousness, Murali told the authorities where he lived, but they soon discovered that his home had been washed away. But they managed to trace his parents to a tsunami relief centre.

Murali's reunion with his parents was one of joy, relief and pain. The Radhakrishnans' 11-year-old daughter, Santoshi, had died in front of their eyes, crushed by a falling tree. They had given up hope of finding Murali alive, too.

"When the letter came that my son was alive and in a hospital, it was almost like the Gods had intervened to get my life back on track," says Murali's mother, Premlata, through tears of joy.

Though their house has been washed away and are barely managing to make ends meet, the family count their blessings every day.

"I am so happy that my son kept his wits about him and latched on to that tree. There must have been a guardian angel watching over him," says Premlata.

Murali, on the other hand, doesn't think it was such a great feat. "Sitting on the tree seemed the wisest and safest thing to do," is all he has to say.